Patent Application
20060011785
This invention relates to the general field of garden accessories, and more particularly to a yard or garden accessory which may be used in association with large yard waste bags of the type used for bagging and disposing of yard waste such as leaves, twigs and the like.
Burning of leaves and other yard waste has been prohibited for many years in most urban and suburban settings. Home owners are now encouraged to gather up and bag their yard waste. The bags are then left at the curb and picked up and disposed of by the local municipality. Restrictions on land fill sites have encouraged many municipalities to search for ways to reduce the volume of waste going to landfill. As a result, benign or compostable yard waste is often diverted from land fill and placed in, for example, a municipal composting facility. Such yard waste, such as leaves, weeds and other plant matter, once composted into mulch, can then be used on municipal flower beds and the like.
At first the municipalities required the use of clear plastic bags, to permit the collection workers to distinguish between compostable and non-compostable waste. However, this required that the compostable material in the bags be removed from the non-degradable plastic bags at the compost facility, which was expensive and time consuming. More recently the requirement is to use large biodegradable paper bags, which are clearly marked as yard waste and which have restrictions on what can be placed in them (i.e. compostable materials only). Typically in the spring and in the fall the bags are filled by homeowners, placed on the curb. Then they are collected by municipal garbage collectors and taken to a central composting facility. Because the paper used in the bags is easily biodegradable, the waste need not be separated from the bags and is thus easier to handle. Because the bags can be dumped directly into the composter the whole composting operation less expensive.
Unfortunately, when the homeowner seeks to fill the paper yard waste bags, the paper bags are very awkward to use. Paper is easily folded and three or more bags are typically sold together in a small, tightly wrapped, folded-up package. The bags when unfolded retain some memory of their folded shape and will quickly collapse back to a closed position even after being opened. Once partially full they can retain their open shape somewhat better, but even then horizontal fold lines can have enough memory to cause the top to fall over and close. Typically two hands are required to hold the top of the bag open, which leaves no hands left to place the yard waste in the open bag. Alternatively if two hands are used to pick up the waste, no hands are left to hold open the paper bag. As a result yard waste bagging becomes a two-person job, which is inefficient and time consuming.
What is desired is simple and practical way to keep the bag open, in a hands free manner, so that the hands can be used to lift, rake or sweep yard waste or debris into the open bag top. Such a device should be quick and easy to use and inexpensive to make, while being effective and re-usable. Such a device will also facilitate holding the top of the bag open, whether the bag is lying on its side, with its open top adjacent to the ground or whether the bag is upright. As well it is desirable if the device includes means to hold the bag in position as it is being filled in either the lying down or upright positions.
According to the present invention there is provided an insert collar which can be inserted into the top opening of a paper bag to hold open or prop open the top. The insert collar then forms a liner, chute or opening through which yard waste is passed into the bag. The insert collar includes features to ensure that the collar remains in an open position, such as an easily positionable element to prop open the collar. This element is most preferably retractable so that after use the collar can be collapsed for easy storage. Preferably the device will be used for bags which are either in an upright or upright or lying down loading position. Most preferably the insert collar includes features to help hold the collar in position for either bag loading position. Additionally the present invention facilitates the movement of partially full or full bags by providing a handle and a load distributing structure.
Reference will now be made to drawings which, by way of example only, illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention.
As shown in
The most preferred size of the rectangle is one which just closely fits into a standard yard waste paper bag. In the event there are a number of paper bag sizes available it is preferred to size the insert collar to fit within the smallest standard size. Quite simply, if it fits within the smallest size, then, the same size will also fit within a larger bag opening. In this sense fits into should be a fit that is easy to make, so is not too tight, but is one that is not too loose either. The larger the top opening in the insert collar, the easier it is to place bulky yard waste therein. Similarly, the larger the cross sectional area of the chute of the insert collar, the easier it is to pass the yard waste through the collar and into the bag. However, ease of loading yard waste through the collar must be balanced against ease of placing the collar into the bag in the first place. The collar should not be so big as to create a tight fit of the collar into the bag which is awkward to complete.
While for ease of manufacturing it is preferred to provide only one standard size of collar, it will be appreciated that the present invention can be formed to any desired dimensions and thus can be sized to fit closely within any size of bag opening. Further while in the preferred form the chute formed by the collar is of a consistent cross sectional area, the present invention also comprehends that the collar may be funnel shaped or otherwise change area over its length.
The insert collar 10 of the present invention may be of any height, of between ¼ to the full height of a yard bag. Most preferably, the insert collar is between about ¼ and ⅔ of the bag height, with a collar height of about ⅓ of the bag height providing reasonable results.
In
Also shown in
Once the fastener strip is attached the fold line 50 becomes the last joint in what is now a continuous insert collar. What is desired is to form a joint so that when expanded, the insert forms a hollow chute or tube through which yard waste may pass into an interior of a yard waste bag. In this way a folded over, completed article can be mass produced and is easily shipped and stored at retailers for purchased by consumers in the flattened or folded position. In this way the product takes up less shelf space at the retail level. Most preferably, the folded over insert collars of the present invention can be band wrapped for shipping and storage or even packed into a carton. Most preferably the folded over article has one or more through holes located at or around a centre of gravity, so a number of folded over devices can be suspended from a retail display rack, if desired.
While the foregoing method of making a blank and then securing it along one edge yields good results other methods of construction are also comprehended by the present invention. For example, the collar may be formed as a single unitary element, such as by blow molding, injection molding or the like. In this case the unit could be made to be naturally fully expanded in the open position, and could have living hinges formed at the corners to permit the device to be collapsed.
Once the insert collar of the present invention is to be used, then certain simple and easy assembly steps are required. The first thing is to remove the insert collar, in its folded flat position, from any sleeve, wrapping or other packaging that it might come in. The next step is to expand the folded over insert collar from its flat shipping position to an open or in use position. This is done by simply inserting a hand in between the folded sections and bending the panels at the preexisting creases at the corners, until the insert collar is in the form of an open rectangle. Alternatively the user can urge opposed corners together to cause the insert open. The present invention comprehends that the insert collar may have a naturally folded or flat position, which needs to be expanded, or it may have a naturally expanded position and must be collapsed for storage. In this latter case the corners would provide enough memory to cause the collar to remain in an open position. Clips would be provided to temporarily secure the collar in the collapsed position. The collar could be put into an in use position by removing the clip to let the collar expand to the open position.
It can now be understood that for a preferred form of the present invention in which the natural position of the device is in the folded over or collapsed position what is desired is a means to prop open the insert collar in the in use position. Although various methods can be used good results have been achieved as follows. In
The folded over section can double as a handle since it has the additional advantage of being relatively strong, due to the multiplicity of folds at this section. Thus the folded over section can bear a reasonable amount of force even when the panel material is otherwise fairly flexible. It will be understood that such a handle is a useful feature. The paper yard waste bags used are typically quite weak and easily tear. As such there is a tendency for them to tear as they are being filled, or even as they are being moved. The tearing occurs when a load is concentrated on a small section of the edge of the bag, for example, as the home owner tries to drag a full bag to the curb. By means of the handle on the collar, the forces are concentrated on the collar, but are spread out across web of the bag by the collar. Thus, using the handle, where the insert is for example wedged in place by the contents of a full bag, can reduce the tendency for the paper bag to tear and spill its contents when manipulating the bag.
Further the preferred location for the triangular bar handle 60 is above the front panel, so that it does not form an obstruction to sweeping material through the collar, when the collar is placed on its rear panel in a bag which is laying on its side. Tabs can be used to ensure reasonably secure registry of the folded over triangular bar handle 60 with the notches 70, 72. It can also be appreciated that the collar may be easily collapsed into a flat or folded up position, simply by removing the ends of the handle 60 from the notches, by unrolling or unfolding the handle and then applying a small force onto said collar to cause it to collapse. In this way the collar may be easily stored for future reuse, once all of the yard waste is collected and it is no longer needed.
Turning back to
The ears also have an additional aspect, in that they may be further bent past 90 degrees to about 180 degrees relative to the plane of the side panels. As shown, the cut lines 80, 82 extend past the intersection of the side and rear panels, thus permitting the ears to be further extended away from the rear panel of the collar. The ears are provided with a slot 28 or other means to permit the ears to be placed over an external support 99
It will now be appreciated that the connection of the ears to the balance of the insert collar will be a region of high stress. Thus, it is desirable to reinforce or otherwise render this connection secure against tearing. In one aspect this is accomplished by making the collar from a strong material such as plastic. Where the collar is made from weaker material, such as biodegradable cardboard, for example, it may be necessary to provide reinforcement at the connection between the ears and the collar, such as a tape or other material or by increasing the width of the connection.
To facilitate the first placement of the insert collar into an open top of a flexible bag, the present invention provides the inwardly bent flaps 31, at the lower edges of the panel sections. This presents a tapered profile to the lowermost edge of the insert collar making the insertion of the bottom end into the top of the bag easier. The taper also facilitates placing yard waste into the bag. It will now be understood that with the ears retracted, the insert collar of the present invention may be placed down at the bottom of the bag to act as a puncture resistant liner. Then as the bag is filled the collar may be raised by the handle to allow the liner to contain the force applied to the debris as it is being stuffed into the bag, until the liner is at the top of the bag. Then the ears can be extended if desired. These features, in combination, permit the insert collar of the present invention to be useful in both upright and prone bag filling positions and in this way facilitate the natural use filing sequence of a bag of first partially filing the bag in a prone position and then completing filling the bag in an upright position.
It can now be appreciated that the present invention provides a simple and yet elegant structure to prop open a yard bag for hands free filling of the same. The insert may be fully inserted to the bottom of the bag, if the ears are not folded out, and in this manner provides a reinforcing liner to protect the generally weaker bag material from puncture by sticks or the like as the yard waste is being packed into the bag. The liner can be raised within the bag as the bag is filled, like a slip form by gripping the triangular handle 60. Eventually the insert collar can be removed from the bag, when the bag is full and then the collar may be inserted onto another bag and reused to fill a second or a further empty bag. The use of a puncture resistant slip liner can permit the bags to be more densely packed, thus requiring fewer bags than would otherwise be the case.
While the foregoing description has been in respect of various preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated that other modifications can be made without departing from the broad scope of the appended claims. Some of these modifications have been suggested above and others will be apparent to those who are skilled in the art. For example while two ears are preferred adequate results may be obtained with having only one ear. It expected that this will be less satisfactory however, since in this case the ear will be off centre and more awkward to use.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2470408 | Jun 2004 | CA | national |
